Tag Archives: patience

What’s the Most Important Parenting Skill?

  Patience, forgiveness, empathy?  What is the most important parenting skill? Good parenting isn’t presented to us at baby showers or as a parting gift from hospital staff following 21 hours of labor.  So, how do you acquire the skills needed to raise decent human beings?  Moreover, what are the most important qualities needed to ensure your child is able to grow into a valuable member of society? Patience:  Wash, dry, fold, break up fights, chauffeur, shop, cook, clean, repeat… over and over again.  After years of this monotony it’s no wonder many parents find it challenging to be patient … Continue reading →

Modeling Patience

Patience is a virtue… or so I’ve heard. Delayed gratification has been a huge topic in my family’s home, especially since we flipped the calendar to 2013. Three words: New Year’s resolutions.  Make that six:  Failing to keep New Year’s resolutions… especially the ones that challenge you to delay a reward. That’s us. And by us, I mean me.  Well, me and my 8-year-old.  But, she didn’t resolve to be more patient in 2013.  That was my Christmas wish that she didn’t deliver. Of course, if I listened to the experts, I would have known that resolving to lose weight … Continue reading →

Mastering the Fine Art of Delayed Gratification

My 8-year-old has the patience of… well, an 8-year-old. Actually, on many days her ability to wait without whining or complaining is more on par with a 4-year-old. She’d kill me if she knew I was comparing her to a preschooler.  Then again, I’ll probably die first from having to tolerate her incessant bellyaching each time she is asked to keep her composure while waiting for whatever it is she wants right NOW! And by now, she means the millisecond her request leaves her lips. During my daughter’s last well child check-up I discussed the issue of delayed gratification with … Continue reading →

When Will She Be Ready To Potty Train?

In one of my first blogs I wrote about potty training my toddler. I insisted at that time that she wouldn’t go to high school in diapers. Now I’m thinking that she may indeed never potty train. She is still displaying none of the signs of readiness. Maybe I just need to ignore what the experts say to look for and plunge ahead armed with chocolate kisses, patience, and a lot of paper towels. Not that long ago I bought the cutest toilet seats for Jessie to sit on and she was happy to sit on them. She was excited … Continue reading →

Peas in a Pod?

Are you and your spouse as happy as two peas in a pod? You might want to think about adding some of these Ps to you marriage if they don’t already exist. Patience Patience is a key ingredient within marriage. This is especially necessary when you are first married. That first year of marriage can be extremely difficult as you get used to the new situation of living and sleeping with someone else, of catering to their needs and thinking of them rather than just always pleasing yourself. You need patience because a good marriage doesn’t just happen. It takes … Continue reading →

Hurry Up and Wait

I’ve been joking lately that I’d like to take the next step in figuring out my health mystery soon — and not “soon” in dog years. Things feel like they’re moving very slowly. To recap: just before New Year’s, I had a physical and pelvic exam. Because my uterus was enlarged, the nurse midwife suspected I had fibroids. She ordered an ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis. But the ultrasound results were unclear… so the plan is to hand me off to a specialist for further testing. It hasn’t quite been a month since the pelvic exam and original diagnosis… but … Continue reading →

Watch Out for Being Overly Self-Critical

We definitely need to try to be honest with ourselves as business owners and work to do a better and better job at our work. I also think it helps to be able to be honest with ourselves and look at our “weaknesses” or those areas where we stand to make improvements. Many of us can get carried away, however, and spend so much time beating ourselves up and focusing on what we are not doing right, that we can force our self-esteem into the dumpster! Too much self-criticism does not help our businesses. To be completely honest, I do … Continue reading →

Take it Easy on Yourself and Your Kids!

Who among us has not given that lecture in the mirror? We tell ourselves to shape up and get a grip. We might even extend that lecture to our child or children and expect them to just stop feeling badly, whining, being lazy or whatever negative version of our family story we have. During these times when we want nothing more than to give ourselves and our kids a “good talking to”—it might actually be time to lighten up, take it easy, and have a little compassion. We might just be too rough on ourselves and that never helps matters. … Continue reading →

Learning to Give Things Time

Impatience can be a problem for many of us—we want what we want and we want things to happen NOW. Whether we are trying to get through a grieving period, or rebuild our lives and our bank accounts, life as a single parent can be a lesson in patience. Learning how to allow the time to pass in order to facilitate healing, growth and change can be a big step for many of us. I know that when I was newly a single parent, I was incredibly frustrated by what felt like “going backward.” I had spent all those years … Continue reading →

My Husband’s Good Example

I don’t have a perfect marriage—in fact, I don’t know too many people who do. We have our ups and downs, that’s for sure. But there is one way in which I would say our marriage is perfect. My husband always forgives me. I’m a very emotional person. Life isn’t just something to be lived for me—it’s something I have to feel and experience. I tend to internalize much of what is going on and my nerves aren’t always the best. All of this is a very round-about way of saying, I have the tendency to throw the occasional fit. … Continue reading →